on the north-eastern side; and the variety is still further increased by the continuation of the ridge which it forms for some distance northwards through the plain. Three roads lead to Athens from the Boeotian frontier over the intervening mountain barrier—the easternmost over Parnes, from Delium and Oropus by Decelea, which was the usual route of the invading Lacedaemonians during the Peloponnesian War; the westernmost over Cithaeron, by the pass of Dryoscephalae, or the “Oakheads,” leading from Thebes by Plataea to Eleusis, and so to Athens, which we hear of in connexion with the battle of Plataea, and with the escape of the Plataeans at the time of the siege of that city in the Peloponnesian War; the third, midway between the two, by the pass of Phyle, near the summit of which, on a rugged height overlooking the Athenian plain, is the fort occupied by Thrasybulus in the days of the Thirty Tyrants. On the sea-coast to the south-west of Athens rises the hill of Munychia, a mass of rocky ground, forming the acropolis of the town of Peiraeus. It was probably at one time an island; this was Strabo’s opinion, and at the present day the ground which joins it to the mainland is low and swampy, and seems to have been formed by alluvial soil brought down by the Cephisus. On one side of this, towards Hymettus, lay the open roadstead of Phalerum, on the other the harbour of Peiraeus, a completely land-locked inlet, safe, deep and spacious, the approach to which was still further narrowed by moles. The eastern side of the hill was further indented by two small but commodious havens, which were respectively called Zea and Munychia.
The north-eastern boundary of the plain of Athens is formed by the graceful pyramid of Pentelicus, which received its name from the deme of Pentele at its foot, but was far more commonly known as Brilessus in ancient times. This mountain did not form a continuous chain with Hymettus, Eastern Attica.for between them intervenes a level space of ground 2 m. in width, which formed the entrance to the Mesogaea, an elevated undulating plain in the midst of the mountains, reaching nearly to Sunium. At the extremity of Hymettus, where it projects into the Saronic Gulf, was the promontory of Zoster (“the Girdle”), which was so called because it girdles and protects the neighbouring harbour; but in consequence of the name, a legend was attached to it, to the effect that Latona had loosed her girdle there. From this promontory to Sunium there runs a lower line of mountains, and between these and the sea a fertile strip of land intervenes, which was called the Paralia. Beyond Sunium, on the eastern coast, were two safe ports, that of Thoricus, which is defended by the island of Helene, forming a natural breakwater in front of it, and that of Prasiae, now called Porto Raphti (“the Tailor”), from a statue at the entrance to which the natives have given that name. In the north-east corner is the little plain of Marathon (q.v.), the scene of the battle against the Persians (490 B.C.). It lies between Parnes, Pentelicus and the sea. The bay in front is sheltered by Euboea, and on the north by a projecting tongue of land, called Cynosura. The mountains in the neighbourhood were the home of the Diacrii or Hyperacrii, who, being poor mountaineers, and having nothing to lose, were the principal advocates of political reform; while, on the other hand, the Pedieis, or inhabitants of the plains, being wealthy landholders, formed the strong conservative element, and the Parali, or occupants of the sea-coast, representing the mercantile interest, held an intermediate position between the two (see Cleisthenes). Finally, there was one district of Attica, the territory of Oropus, which properly belonged to Boeotia, as it was situated to the north of Parnes; but on this the Athenians always endeavoured to retain a firm hold, because it facilitated their communications with Euboea. The command of that island was of the utmost importance to them; for, if Aegina could rightly be called “the eyesore of the Peiraeus,” Euboea was quite as truly a thorn in the side of Attica; for we learn from Demosthenes (De Cor. p. 307) that at one period the pirates that made it their headquarters so infested the neighbouring sea as to prevent all navigation.
The place in Attica which has been the chief scene of excavations (independently of Athens and its vicinity) is Eleusis (q.v.), where the remains of the sanctuary of Demeter, the home of the Eleusinian Mysteries, together with other buildings in its neighbourhood, were cleared by the Excavations.Greek Archaeological Society in 1882–1887 and 1895–1896. Of the other classical ruins in Attica the best-known is the temple of Athena at Sunium, which forms a conspicuous object on the headland, to which it gave the name of Cape Colonnae, still used by the peasants. It is in the Doric style, of white marble, and eleven columns of the peristyle and one of the pronaos are now standing. At Thoricus there is a theatre, which was cleared of earth by the archaeologists of the American School in 1886. In the neighbourhood of Rhamnus are the remains of two temples that stood side by side, the larger of which was dedicated to Nemesis, the smaller probably to Themis, of which goddess a fine statue was discovered in its ruins in the course of the excavations of the Greek Archaeological Society in 1890. The same Society, in 1884, 1886 and 1887, excavated the sanctuary of Amphiaraus, 4 m. from Oropus; in ancient times this was the resort of numerous invalids, who came thither to consult the healing divinity. Within it were found a temple of Amphiaraus, a large altar, and a long colonnade, which may have been the dormitory where the patients slept in hope of obtaining counsel in dreams. There were also baths and a small theatre, and numerous inscriptions relating to the arrangement and observances of the sanctuary and oracle. The walls and towers also of the city of Eleutherae and the fortress of Phyle are fine specimens of Hellenic fortifications.
Of the condition of Attica in medieval and modern times little need be said, for it has followed for the most part the fortunes of Athens. The population, however, has undergone a great change, independently of the large admixture of Slavonic blood that has affected the Greeks of the mainland generally, by the immigration of Albanian colonists, who now occupy a great part of the country. The district formed part of the nome (administrative division) of Boeotia and Attica until 1899, when it became a separate nome.
Bibliography.—J. G. Frazer, Pausanias’s Description of Greece, vols. ii. and v. (London, 1898); W. M. Leake, The Demi of Attica (2nd ed., London, 1841); Chr. Wordsworth, Athens and Attica (4th ed., London, 1869); C. Bursian, Geographie von Griechenland, vol. i. (Leipzig, 1862); Baedeker’s Greece (4th Eng. ed., Leipzig, 1908); Karten von Attica, published by the German Archaeological Institute of Athens, with explanatory text, chiefly by Professor Milchhöfer (1875–1903); see also Athens, Eleusis and Greece: Topography. (H. F. T.)
ATTIC BASE, the term given in architecture to the base of the Roman Ionic order, consisting of an upper and lower torus, separated by a scotia (q.v.) and fillets. It was the favourite base of the Romans, and was employed by them for columns of the Corinthian and Composite orders, and in Byzantine and Romanesque work would seem to have been generally adopted as a model.
ATTICUS, TITUS POMPONIUS (109–32 B.C.), Roman patron of letters, was born at Rome three years before Cicero, with whom he and the younger Marius were educated. His name was Titus Pomponius, that of Atticus, by which he is known, being given him afterwards from his long residence in Athens (86–65) and his intimate acquaintance with the Greek literature and language. His family is said to have been of noble and ancient descent; his father belonged to the equestrian order, and was very wealthy. When Pomponius was still a young man his father died, and he at once took the prudent resolution of transferring himself and his fortune to Athens, in order to escape the dangers of the civil war, in which he might have been involved through his connexion with the murdered tribune, Sulpicius Rufus. Here he lived in retirement, devoting himself entirely to study. On his return to Rome, he took possession of an inheritance left him by his uncle and assumed the name of Quintus Caecilius Pomponianus. From this time he kept aloof from political strife, attaching himself to no particular party, and continuing on intimate terms with men so opposed as Caesar and Pompey, Antony and Octavian. His most intimate friend,
